Peace Breaks Out

I loved A Separate Peace, and I loved this follow-up just as much, if not more. It captures the true impulsive nature of young men. Set in post World War Two America, it is a story about ego and revenge. It has the same tone as Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I loved every page of it.

In John Knowles' "A Separate Peace" the reader is taken on a visit to the Devon School, a college preparatory school in New Hampshire. Through marvelously descriptive narration and telling dialogue, Knowles dissects the adolescent mind of the boys who were faced with the horrors of World War II. In his follow-up novel, John Knowles again takes the reader to Devon, and explores the psyche of similar boys at the time just after the War. Though the story is a bit more confined than that in the first book, I think that it has to be. This new batch of characters must look to themselves for a reason for the way they are, rather than to the oppressive state of the world. Knowles gives a brilliant depiction of the aggression that still remains in all of us, even in times of Peace. If you loved "A Separate Peace" as so many others do, myself included, then you owe it to yourself to read this book. It IS different, but it should be.

Granted, reading this book was required in my 10th grade English class, but there's no way I would call reading it a waste of time as many assigned books are. This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's an allegory that explores the human spirit in a way few books do. It's funny, sad, touching, terrible. What more could you ask for?

I think that " A Separate Piece" is the best book ever- I read it for the first time in 8th grade and loved it, it has been my favorite book since then. I do not understand how anyone can say that this book is borning. Another comment that I found awful was that anyone that has to read it was unlucky. For all of you that did not like the book, that said they could hardly finish reading the first chapter, well all can say is that maybe the words were to big for you. Before you jugde the book maybe you should finish reading it!!

I have not stopped thinking about this book since I have read it - what wonderful writing!